Cardiff City square off against Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday evening with the opportunity to move clear of the relegation zone.
However, at a time when the Bluebirds sit in 21st position in the Championship table, they hold just a five-point advantage over their bottom-placed opponents.
Match preview
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Omer Riza would have realistically not envisaged being in charge of Cardiff for this amount of time, particularly on an interim basis.
With 15 points coming from his 10 games, the Bluebirds hierarchy have a decision to make, the process not helped by Cardiff accumulating just one point from the most recent three fixtures.
Nevertheless, after defeats to Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers, the Welsh side secured a 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday that kept the club outside of the bottom three.
Given their dismal away record, Riza viewed the share of the spoils as a positive result, yet it keeps the stakes high when they play at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Cardiff had previously held a four-match winning streak on familiar territory before they were outplayed by an inconsistent Blackburn outfit before the international break.
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Meanwhile, Marti Cifuentes knows that he is on borrowed time at QPR with his side currently on a 12-match run without success.
Fortunately for the Spaniard, draws against Coventry City, Burnley, Sunderland and Stoke City have largely been viewed as bonus results, particularly versus the former three sides.
QPR also came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw with Stoke at the weekend, keeping within six points of 17th place courtesy of none of the teams immediately above them winning on Friday or Saturday.
Although QPR have failed to score in each of their last four away league fixtures, they are also yet to concede more than twice in any of their seven such fixtures during 2024-25.
Team News
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The extra day of recovery could encourage Riza to select an unchanged side from the one that started the stalemate at Hillsborough.
Even if Calum Chambers is passed fit having missed that fixture, the defender may have to settle for a place on the substitutes' bench.
Aaron Ramsey and Kion Etete remain on the injury list, as does Ryotaro Tsunoda who is yet to make an appearance all season after hamstring surgery earlier in the year.
Kenneth Paal is an option to return at left-back for QPR having returned from injury versus Stoke, and the same applying to Morgan Fox.
Alfie Lloyd may also be considered for a recall in attack, but the likes of Jake Clarke-Salter and Ilias Chair are sidelined through injury.
Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Ng, Goutas, Daland, O'Dowda; Robertson, Turnbull; Tanner, Colwill, Meite; Robinson
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Dunne, Cook, Morrison, Ashby; Varane, Field; Smyth, Madsen, Saito; Lloyd
We say: Cardiff City 2-1 Queens Park Rangers
Having earned a draw at the weekend, QPR will back themselves to finally get a second win on the board on Wednesday. However, we predict that Cardiff will finish the stronger and secure maximum points during the closing stages.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
